George Brett, Detroit Tiger.

[Ytown Tribe fan]

What would George Brett's career have been like if he'd played it for the Tigers? Without going into the details, here's my best guess. I didn't use the Brock2 method, but based his totals on what he did at Royals Stadium, Tigers Stadium and the other parks.

I'll list Brett's actual totals first, followed by my estimate of what they would have been playing half the time in Tigers Stadium:

Games: 2707 (2980)
At Bats: 10,349 (11,400)

BA: .305 (.325)
OBA: .373 (.410)
SLG: .487 (.569)

Walks: 1096 (1550)
Hits: 3154 (3705)
Singles: 2035 (2270)
Doubles: 665 (640)
Triples: 137 (245)
Homers: 317 (550)
Total Bases: 5044 (6485)

SB/CS: 201/97 (255/105)

In 1980, he would have batted .407 in 155 games, with 240 hits.

George Brett was a great player. He hit well in Royals Stadium, which helped his doubles and triples totals greatly. Brett murdered right-handed pitching and hit better in Tigers Stadium than anywhere else. The large outfield, natural grass and cozy right-field porch helped Brett in every phase of his hitting game.

His first leg injury occurred in 1977, and he was injured worse in 1980. Brett himself always claimed that artificial turf caused him pain his entire career and robbed him of about 10% of the games he could have played. It certainly rohbbed him of a lot of the enjoyment of playing.

Brett had great speed and power before 1980; afterwards, his triples and SB totals went way down, although his SB% became better as he became a smarter player. His triples and SB totals would certainly have been much higher had he not suffered from his leg injuries.

[VNV Nation]

An interesting post, but keep in mind that Brett was hitting against Tigers' pitching, which probably wasn't very good over the course of his career, and most notably, not very left-handed.

[pwdennis]

Originally posted by Ytown Tribe fan
What would George Brett's career have been like if he'd played it for the Tigers? Without going into the details, here's my best guess. I didn't use the Brock2 method, but based his totals on what he did at Royals Stadium, Tigers Stadium and the other parks.

I'll list Brett's actual totals first, followed by my estimate of what they would have been playing half the time in Tigers Stadium:

Games: 2707 (2980)
At Bats: 10,349 (11,400)

BA: .305 (.325)
OBA: .373 (.410)
SLG: .487 (.569)

Walks: 1096 (1550)
Hits: 3154 (3705)
Singles: 2035 (2270)
Doubles: 665 (640)
Triples: 137 (245)
Homers: 317 (550)
Total Bases: 5044 (6485)

SB/CS: 201/97 (255/105)

In 1980, he would have batted .407 in 155 games, with 240 hits.

While there is no doubt that Brett would have put up better numbers in Detroit than in Kansas City, I doubt that the rest of the league would have pitched to Brett like the Tigers did. Also the projections on triples and stolen bases are unrealistic. I seriously doubt that a 500 home run man would be doing that much running. Were Brett to have put up anything resembling those numbers he would have been the concensus pick as the greatest 3B of all time.

[Max Power]

Only flaw in the theory - - Tigers would have traded Brett at age 31 to make room for Chris Pittaro. Gotta take out the last 9 years of Brett's career and put them in another park.

[Ytown Tribe fan]

Well, I find that there are three more serious flaws to my hypothesis.

If George Brett had played for the Tigers he would have missed out on three people: Hal McRae, Charley Lau and Whitey Herzog. There's no telling what he would have done if he hadn't learned what he did from those three guys, and Brett will be the first to tell you that.

McRae got every last base possible out of his beat up body with the Royals, and his teammates were dramatically affected by his style of play. Being released by the Reds lit a fire under Hal's butt.

Lau taught Brett how to hit (according to Brett). George may have been a speedy singles hitter were it not for Lau -- even with a longer career, he could have been Rod Carew instead of Stan Musial.

Herzog always said that George was the only player he had that never needed a coach, but Brett must have been influenced by Whitey, who never put up with less than maximum effort from his troops. Whitey and Hal are the two big reasons the Royals were such an exciting team in the late-70's, and George was as lucky to be a member of that team as they were to have him.

Thinking about it, George might have become half the player he was with a different organization.

[KCBOOMER]

Originally posted by Ytown Tribe fan Brett had great speed and power before 1980; afterwards, his triples and SB totals went way down, although his SB% became better as he became a smarter player.

I watched him for twenty years and I can guarantee you he did not have great speed or power at anytime in his career. He had decent spped and power. What he did have was a great ability to hit the ball like a rocket and fierce desire to play his best everyday.

For him to hit 233 more homers in Tiger Stadium than he hit in Royal's Stadium would have made him the most lopsided HR hitter in history. Not likely.

I think you are right that, ignoring the Herzog/Lau/McCrae connection, he would have had a far superior career in Tiger Stadium. But, I will take what he had.

[Fuzzy Bear]

What would Brett have hit in Yankee Stadium?